Operating Opencast Mines of Selected Groups in the Silesian Voivodeship Against a Background of Water Environment and Possibilities of Waste Placing

Abstract

The paper is aimed at location identification of operating opencast mines against a background of main groundwater basins (MGB) and in relation to surface waters. The scope of analysis covered the Silesian Voivodeship, as the area in which many operating and closed opencast mines are situated. On the other hand this is a voivodeship, where great amounts of mining waste are generated, potentially placeable in mine workings. The analysis comprised the mines, where raw materials are mined, classified in the Balance of Mineral Deposits Resources in Poland as of 31 December 2017 to the following groups: crushed and block stone, sands and gravels, filling sands, quartz sands for cellular concrete and sand-lime brick production, sands with heavy metals, and moulding sands. The work resulted in a developed map of mined aforementioned opencast mines arrangement in the Silesian Voivodeship, taking into account their location in relation to groundwater basins boundaries and in relation to surface watercourses. Two distances of mined opencast workings from surface watercourses were taken, 500 m and 1000 m. Such a recognition provides an approximate picture of possibilities for various waste types placing in the process of technical reclamation after the end of mining. The use of various waste types for technical reclamation is a complex issue, both in the field of regulations applicable to the ground and water environment, in the field of mine location determination, and in the field of the quality of the waste material determination. The applied legal regulations, frequently changing over time, indicate the right process of decision making and handling of individual waste types. It is most important, that raw materials and waste intended to fill the mines would not create a hazard for the environment, including the environment of surface waters and ground waters.